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Mexico (British Mexico)
Mexico is a country in North America, south of New Spain. History Ancient cultures Archaic period The earliest human remains in Mexico are chips of stone tools found near campfire remains in the Valley of Mexico and radiocarbon-dated to circa 23,000 years ago. Mexico is the site of the domestication of maize and beans which caused a transition from paleo-Indian hunter-gatherers to sedentary agricultural villages beginning around 7000 BCE. Classic periods (1500 BC–700 AD) In the subsequent formative eras, maize cultivation and cultural traits such as a complex mythological and religious complex, a vigesimal numeric system, were diffused from the Mexican cultures to the rest of the Mesoamerican culture area.Kirchhoff, Paul (1943). "Mesoamérica — Sus Límites Geográficos, Composición Étnica y Caracteres Culturales". Acta Americana 1 (1): 92–107. In this period villages began to become socially stratified and develop into chiefdoms, and large ceremonial centers developed.Carmack, Robert; et al. (1996). The legacy of Mesoamerica: history and culture of a Native American civilization. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Among the earliest complex civilizations in Mexico was the Olmec culture which flourished on the Gulf Coast from around 1500 BCE. Olmec cultural traits diffused through Mexico into other formative-era cultures in Chiapas, Oaxaca and the Valley of Mexico. The formative period saw the spread of distinct religious and symbolic traditions, as well as artistic and architectural complexes.Diehl, Richard A. (2004). The Olmecs : America's First Civilization. London: Thames and Hudson. pp. 9–25. In the subsequent pre-classical period, the Maya and Zapotec]] civilizations developed complex centers at Calakmul and Monte Albán respectively. During this period the first true Mesoamerican writing systems were developed in the Epi-Olmec and the Zapotec cultures, and the Mesoamerican writing tradition reached its height in the Classic Maya Hieroglyphic script.Sampson, Geoffrey; Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction, Hutchinson (London), 1985. In Central Mexico, the height of the classic period saw the ascendancy of Teotihuacan, which formed a military and commercial empire whose political influence stretched south into the Maya area as well as north. At its peak, Teotihuacan contained some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas, and had a population of more than 150,000 people. |authorlink=George Cowgill |year=1997 |title=State and Society at Teotihuacan, Mexico |journal=Annual Review of Anthropology |url= |format=PDF online reproduction |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=pp.129–161|location=Palo Alto, CA |publisher=Annual Reviews|Annual Reviews Inc |doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.129 |issn=0084-6570 |oclc=202300854}} After the collapse of Teotihuacán around 600 CE, competition ensued between several important political centers in central Mexico such as Xochicalco and Cholula. At this time, during the Epi-Classic, Nahua peoples began moving south into Mesoamerica from the North, and became politically and culturally dominant in central Mexico, as they displaced speakers of Oto-Manguean languages. Post-classic period (700–1519 AD) During the early post-classic Central Mexico was dominated by the Toltec culture, Oaxaca by the Mixtec and the lowland Maya area had important centers at Chichén Itzá and Mayapán. Towards the end of the post-Classic period the Aztecs of Central Mexico built a tributary empire covering most of central Mexico. |authorlink=Michael D. Coe |coauthors=with |year=2002|origyear= |title=Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs |edition=5th edition, revised and enlarged |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London and New York |isbn=0-500-28346-X |oclc=50131575}} The Aztecs were noted for practicing human sacrifice on a large scale. The distinct Mesoamerican cultural tradition ended with the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, and over the next centuries Mexican indigenous cultures were gradually subjected to Spanish colonial rule. |year=1993 |title=The Aztecs, Maya, and Their Predecessors: Archaeology of Mesoamerica |edition=3rd |location=San Diego, CA |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=0-12-739065-0 |oclc=25832740}} English Conquest During the 1510s a 500 British conquerors arrived to Mexico and led to the fall of the Aztec Empire. In search of gold and riches, they decide to conquer the area. The ruler of the Aztec empire upon the arrival of the English was Moctezuma II, who was later killed; his successor and brother Cuitláhuac took control of the Aztec empire, but was among the first to fall from the smallpox epidemic a short time later. Unintentionally introduced by English conquerors, smallpox ravaged Mesoamerica in the 1520s, killing more than 3 million Aztecs. Other sources, however, mentioned that the death toll of the Aztecs might have reached up to 15 million (out of a population of less than 30 million). Severely weakened, the Aztec empire was easily defeated by The forces forces on his second return. Smallpox was a devastating and selective disease—it generally killed Aztecs but not the English, who as Europeans had already been exposed to it for centuries and were therefore much more immune to it. The deaths caused by smallpox are believed to have triggered a rapid growth of Christianity in Mexico and the Americas. At first, the Aztecs believed the epidemic was a punishment from an angry god, but they later accepted their fate and no longer resisted the English rule. Many of the surviving Aztecs blamed the cause of smallpox to the superiority of the Christian god, which resulted in the acceptance of Catholicism and yielding to the Spanish rule throughout Mexico. The territory became part of the British Empire under the name of New England. Mexico City was systematically rebuilt by the conquerors following the Fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521. Much of the identity, traditions and architecture of Mexico were created during the colonial period. Mexican-Spanish War The Spaniards arrived to Mexico in the late-1500's and has a big war with Great Britain. The Spaniards lost the war and start conquering Florida. Category:Mexico Category:British Empire Category:North America Category:British Mexico Category:Ismael777